


袂

by terajk



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Community: kink_bingo, Multi, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-26
Updated: 2011-06-26
Packaged: 2017-10-20 17:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terajk/pseuds/terajk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Small makes her power</p>
            </blockquote>





	袂

Metal against skin,

slicing against the little hairs

(Sit straight for the Firelord, Mai),

her power makes her small.

 

Small makes her power,

robes the color of old blood

(Azula across the table, Ozai's right hand),

listening as adults talk.

 

Adults would say she is good

with knives, the shuriken, if they knew

(Azula in the gardens, her left hand),

but they don't; the power is hers, still.

 

The power is hers,

Flashing cold brightness,

(How could Azula forget?)

Blue fire of her own.

 

She doesn't need it always, now.

 

Before the mirror,

robes the color of rubies

(Zuko doesn't know how much they cost),

the hairs lie flat.

 

The hairs lie flat,

warm in their lining

(Soft like Katara's furs, or her hair),

a thrill stands them up.

 

The warm thrill,

coursing through blood

(Azula's lightning, her fire)

is her power now.

 

Her power is warmth,

forearms cradled in life

(Azula, drinking steeped herbs across the hall),

her husband's flame.

 

Her husband's flame

is in his hands, in the hallway, and

(The loyalists, the taxes, the pirates, Lady Mai),

he is her right hand. ****

 **  
**

**Author's Note:**

> 袂 (Mèi) means "sleeve of a robe."


End file.
